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The Summer I Drowned is the debut novel by Taylor Hale / solacing and published by Wattpad Books.
Five years after almost drowning, Olivia Cathart returns home to Caldwell Beach determined to face her fears and take some risks―not just by swimming, but by opening her heart. Hoping to rekindle her friendships, she's excited about a carefree summer with her best friends Keely and Miles. But life in the sleepy town has changed, and no one and nothing is as it seems.
When a series of startling crimes threaten Olivia's fragile state, she is plunged into a terrifying game of cat and mouse. Her only solace from the chaos is West, Miles's disowned and ruggedly handsome brother, but even he can't answer the question on everyone's minds―is Olivia really in danger or is it simply all in her head?
My second Wattpad book, and boy, it was a much better experience than the first. The Summer I Drowned, once known as Sea Glass in its original form, is a debut novel by Taylor Hale / solacing (her username) from Wattpad by Wattpad Books. It is a mixture tale of a girl returning to her home to face her ptsd-inducing past, flames of a childhood crush igniting, and a mystery/thriller that always has an edge of disbelief due to Olivia -- the mc's -- ptsd-induced hallucinations.
I'm going to start with the negatives. This is on the lower end of a three star for me, not because it was particularly bad, as much as because there were often times I felt myself wanting more. Sometimes the writing really felt like it was holding back in a way I don't quite know how to explain. Scenes I felt could really use extra impact never gave that extra oomph. Also, at times, the writing felt a bit skeletal.
I noticed a few mistakes I don't feel I would see in most published books, but I'm fully blaming that on Wattpad Books' editing team.
The characters were mostly good, but there were times Olivia felt a lot like a spectator (intentional, I'm pretty sure, but could make the scene harder to attach to), and I really didn't buy the relationship early on. I liked the love interest more later on than early, which made me not really ship it until after the relationship started. Other characters were mostly okay, but maybe felt like they could have a little more "oomph" to their fleshing out. Especially the antagonist. I won't say that it doesn't make sense, but it just felt... lacking?
I think that's my biggest complaint about the book. Overall, it is really good. But having more oomph in certain aspects would have made it even better.
All that said, it is a very enjoyable book! I saw some people making complaints that I actually thought made it very enjoyable. There are definitely different aspects of the plot. You had the romance, you had the mystery, and you had the girl trying to recover and overcome a traumatic experience by going back to her hometown and reconnecting with friends and stuff. Each aspect was pretty interesting to read.
Even if it took me a while, I shipped the romance.
I really wanted to know who was killing animals and doing some other things I won't spoil.
And Olivia... I wanted to see her heal. I wanted to see her figure out her old life and how it worked with her current one. I was invested in her arc and how the other two aspects were interwoven with it.
The more clinical/simple writing made the book an easy read, even if I felt it held back the narrative at times.
It is probably the first book I've read that would classify as YA Contemporary, even if it also has Mystery/Thriller after that, and I enjoyed it. Usually when I try to read books like that, I step away, but because it had so many aspects outside of just romance, I stayed intrigued.
The relations also felt real, which was a big bonus because I enjoyed the friendship between Olivia and Keeley, the friend she stays with over the summer.
Also, I can't get too much into it, but the unreliable narrator created through Olivia's PoV was very intriguing. It was hard to know what was illusion and what was not. I do believe I have seen unreliable narrator done better, but it still added a very intriguing element to the mystery/thriller aspect.
Overall, a really solid start for Taylor. Would I suggest getting this book and reading it yourself? Yes. Do I think I'll ever reread it though? Doubtful. So three stars. (P.S. Tay, if you're reading this, 3 stars is what I give most books I enjoyed reading and found it completely worth my time and money xD Just pickier on what I reread).
